Find Me
by Raeinspace
Summary: AU. Sequel to "T-shirt Seduction". Emma and Henry are about to be thrust into a world of magic, unprepared for the new Regina and friends that await them in the Enchanted Forest who have forgotten Storybrooke. Swan Queen.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own OUAT etc...**

* * *

"Find me."

Regina's words woke Emma from her sleep. She had been dreaming of the other woman ever since she had left.

The whole town of Storybrooke had gone with her, leaving just Emma and Henry along a worn out country road. At least the yellow bug had survived the magic. Probably because it existed as part of this world. Emma's things were scattered in the area where she had lived, but Henry only had the clothes he was wearing. When she finally arrived back in the town, he was leaning against the car waiting for her.

"You broke the curse." He didn't seem as happy as she had expected.

"Regina chose to break it."

"But everyone's gone."

"Storybrooke only existed because of the curse."

"Your parents are gone too."

"I know, but Regina gave me a way to take us to the other world..." She looked at him as she spoke. "If you want to go."

"What do you mean?"

"Their world isn't like ours…"

"I thought you liked her? You've been dating for months…"

"That's why she gave me this." Emma held out her hand so he could see it. "But this is your world, we both grew up here. The Enchanted Forest is a different place…"

"With our _family _in it."

Emma smiled. "I know."

"Don't you want to go?"

"Of course."

"Then what are we waiting for?"

She drove them to the nearest motel to rest as she explained.

* * *

_Enchanted Forest._

Breaking the curse reset everything.

_Everything._

Regina's hand was raised to strike Snow's as the dark curse swept over the castle. They were returned to that same room, but this time Regina dropped her hand to her side and stared at the woman she had hated for so long. Nothing had happened. The curse didn't work. She waited, listening as Snow's forces rallied to her side and watched the dark purple clouds vanish.

The pain she had felt at loosing Daniel tore at her heart again.

_No_.

_Impossible_.

A dwarf appeared in the doorway. Regina reacted automatically, striking out with her magic. As he was flung aside, Snow moved to attack her.

Regina transported herself back to her own kingdom. She stormed down the corridors, ignoring the questions from the genie trapped in the mirror. Outside, coming to stand under one of her apple trees, she reached out a hand and pressed it onto the bark trying to breathe more slowly.

"It should have worked. Why didn't it work?"

She had no-one to turn to now. Rumplestiltskin was locked in his cell, her father… Regina shook her head. His death had been in vain. Had Rumplestiltskin tricked her again? Was the curse never supposed to work? What purpose was served making her kill her father? She'd already proved she was willing to do whatever it took to make Snow White pay, her heart was as dead as the Dark One's.

She pulled her hand away; looking at the way her blood marked the tree. The cut on her palm didn't even hurt. It should hurt; she should be able to feel _something_.

* * *

The spell had carried them through to a hill overlooking a giant field. Beyond that were a few trees. Emma looked around, checking that Henry was with her. Her hands were numb, but her fingers were still wrapped around his.

"Did it work? Are we _there_?" Henry asked.

"Does this look like anything from your book?"

Henry slid his backpack from his shoulder and opened it up. Taking out the storybook he flipped through the pages. There were a lot of countryside images.

"This one?" He sounded hopeful as he showed it to his mother.

Emma held it up, trying to see if the tree in the picture was the same as the one in the distance. It looked hopeful. _How many trees looked alike? _She wanted to laugh at her own question. At least this one had branches bending at distinct angles. That had to narrow it down.

Emma scanned the horizon. She thought she could see a small building in the distance. Passing the book back to Henry, she pointed in that direction. They set off down the hill and across the field before Emma thought to caution Henry.

"Let's wait to see how they're dressed before asking where Snow White or your mom's kingdoms are, okay?"

Henry laughed. "Which one are we going to first?"

Emma just looked at him as though the answer would be obvious. "Regina's of course. We don't know how the curse breaking affected everyone else. Mary Margaret might not know I'm her daughter."

"I'm sure mom will tell her everything now."

Emma hoped so. According to Henry's book, before the curse Regina had been trying to kill Snow White and in Storybrooke they didn't exactly make friends with each other. A lot of people would be angry about the curse. She could only pray her mother realised that Regina breaking the curse showed she was able to change.

* * *

Snow followed Grumpy to where Doc had laid out her husband. David's wound had been bandaged, but he was still unconscious. She wrapped her hand around his and straightened the collar of his shirt.

"She's taken our child." Snow whispered to him when the dwarves finally left them alone. "The curse was all a trick, to make us send Emma away, but we'll find her. You just have to wake up."

She pressed her lips to his, closing her eyes and wishing for a miracle. He continued to slumber on. Snow sighed. The castle guards were either injured or dead and there was no-one left to defend them if Regina chose to return with her army and her magic. She couldn't understand why that hadn't already happened. Then again, if Regina had Emma she had already won. Snow would willingly lay down her life to get her daughter away from the Evil Queen, but there was no guarantee that Regina would keep her daughter alive afterwards. As long as her absence caused her pain, Snow would never see her daughter again, but she would live.

"What do I do?" Snow asked David. "What would you do?"

There was always Rumplestiltskin. If Regina hadn't freed him, he was still locked up in the magically protected cell. She could go to him for advice. It was either that or wait for nightfall, to try and contact the Blue Fairy.


	2. Chapter 2

"It's just a stable." Emma realised as they approached the building, sounding disappointed.

"Well that means they'll be people nearby." Henry offered trying to sound enthusiastic.

The stables were empty. No horses, no people. Emma sat down and looked around at the strange horse riding gear on the walls. She had no idea what any of it was for. The only things she recognised were the black horseshoes pinned to the walls.

"They wouldn't leave it unlocked if they weren't coming back." Henry told her, taking a seat.

"Yes, but how long? Maybe you should wait here and I'll head that way and see if I can find signs of civilisation. I'll come back for you in an hour or so…"

Henry gaped at her. "Did you not read any of those fairy tales? Children left alone get eaten by witches. There are all sorts of monsters in this world, any one of them could be responsible for the stables being abandoned."

"I'm sure whoever lives here will remember you from Storybrooke and know to keep you safe. They might even send word to my parents to come and meet us."

"If you go I'm coming with you. At least my book'll be able to tell us what to do if we run into ogres or something."

Emma smiled. She was pretty sure if they ran into ogres they wouldn't have time to get out the book and start reading – they would be running for their lives. On the other hand, the book was quite heavy so it might make a good weapon – she could throw it at their heads and distract them while Henry ran.

"Okay kid, break's over. Let's go."

"Which way?"

"Look's like there's a trail or something out that door. Hopefully it'll lead to the home of whoever owns the horses."

"It does." A dark voice answered from behind them.

Emma turned, pulling Henry behind her. When she saw who stood before them, she broke into a smile and stepped forward.

"Regina?"

A fireball appeared in Regina's hand, warning Emma to stay back. "Who are you?"

"Mom?" Henry came to stand next to Emma, confused when they didn't approach.

Regina seemed to hesitate at the sight of a child. She lowered the fireball, but didn't extinguish it.

"It's just me and Henry."

"This is private land. Do you know the penalty for those who dare trespass?"

"Very funny Regina, but we travelled through that god-awful portal you gave us and I'd rather like to skip the jokes if we can."

Raising an eyebrow, Regina took in their clothes and realised how strange they looked. "A portal?"

"Yes, the one you said would help me to find you. Well, it worked. Aren't you happy to see us?"

"We have never met before."

Emma felt like her stomach had dropped through the floor. "You don't remember us?"

"I suggest you leave immediately."

"When the curse broke…" Henry began, but Regina stopped him.

"Curse? What curse?"

"_Your _curse." Emma told her.

"There was no curse. It failed."

"No, it worked. You just broke it a couple of days ago."

"I think I would remember such a thing."

"Then how do you explain us?"

"You will return with me to my castle and I will find out how you breached the defences." She turned and signalled to two of the guards waiting outside.

They entered and grabbed Emma and Henry's arms. Henry tried to shake them off, but Emma didn't struggle. She knew they had no choice.

"It'll be okay, kid." She told him.

"But she doesn't remember…"

"Then we'll help her."

The guards pulled them outside, leaving Regina alone in the stable. She turned to face the area where Daniel had lost his life. It hurt to come here, but now she was glad she had set up the spell to warn her of intruders. This was her place, no-one was allowed to enter.

As she walked outside, she passed the bags Emma and Henry had dropped. She waved her hand, using magic to bring them along. The contents might just reveal what the pair had planned. If they were spies from the White Kingdom, she would deal with them.

* * *

From his cell, the Dark One felt the change enter the land. He smiled.

"Welcome home, dearie." He muttered, peering out through the bars.

There was no-one to hear his words.

* * *

Emma eyed the dark forest as they passed through. She wondered if the journey would ever end. Regina had allowed them inside her carriage after Emma refused to ride with one of the guards on a horse. She couldn't believe that Emma had never ridden one before. Certain that her magic would protect her, and because Emma hadn't struggled or tried to escape, she was now able to study the two strangers who sat across from her.

"Where are we going?" Henry asked.

"My castle."

"Where is it?"

Regina looked surprised, as if he should already know the answer. "The Dark Kingdom, of course."

He turned to Emma, hoping she would remember from the book exactly what that meant. His mom, _Regina_, was still the Evil Queen. He wanted to ask if his grandparents were alive, but knew that revealing that relationship could be dangerous for them.

Regina opened one of the bags. She found a book lying at the top and lifted it out.

"That's mine!" Henry told her, leaning forward to reclaim it.

Regina stopped him with a flick of her wrist, pinning him back against the seat.

"It's just a story book." Emma tried to explain.

"Once Upon A Time?" Regina read the cover.

"It's a children's book, he's really attached to it."

"What else did you try to bring into my kingdom?" She placed the book to one side and began rifling through the contents.

Emma was suddenly glad she had taken Henry to buy more clothes before they left the States. Everything in there should be harmless. Hopefully Regina wouldn't be curious enough to open the book. If she saw herself in the pages, she might get angry.

Emma was listening to Regina's voice as she spoke. It sounded so different from Storybrooke. She wondered how she could get _her _Regina back.

"What is this?" Regina held up Henry's MP3 player.

Emma considered telling her it was a just a toy, but she wanted Regina to believe her about the other world. "It plays music."

"How?"

Emma moved next to Regina and took the gadget to find the play button and switch it on. She untangled the wire for the headphones, but when she held them towards Regina's face, the Queen moved back.

"What are you doing?"

"They go in your ears, so you can hear the music."

Regina looked at her, trying to figure out if it was some kind of trick. Emma waited patiently, then held them up to her own ears as if to show Regina how they worked. Slowly, Regina leant forward and allowed Emma to hold the two buds to her ears. Their faces were a little less than half an arms length apart and Emma trembled as she looked into the Queen's eyes. She wanted to close the distance and kiss her.

Henry cleared his throat. "So now do you believe us?"

Regina moved back, leaving Emma still holding out her hands. "What magic spell did you use to trap the musicians in that box?"

Henry laughed. "It's not magic. The music is recorded and stored on the memory chip inside."

"Recorded? Memory chip?"

"Sort of like a photo, but of sound instead."

"Um, Henry, if they don't have MP3 players I don't think they'll have cameras." Emma reminded him.

Regina felt like she was listening to another language. "What are cameras?"

Emma wasn't sure that she could explain the science behind the technology, but she tried to put it in simple terms that Regina would understand. By the time they reached her castle, Regina had only found more questions to ask.


End file.
